Automatic Choke and Warming Up

[Anonymous]

My 66 200 has an Autolite 1100 with automatic choke. Anyway, when i start my car up in the morning, you know sometimes it wobbles around but other mornings it just revvs up. But I asked someone who has a 67 inline 6 with an automatic choke, and i asked how long he lets it warm up. He said that he doesn't, he starts it up and taps on the gas, and it idles down right away. So heres my question/problem, when i start mine up, and when i tap on the gas, it just revvs up higher. I usually have to wait like 3-5 minutes...I'm not sure if this is such a bad thing so i can at least get the fluids warmed up, but ya know sometimes i dont want to wait. So how long do you guys wait to drive off? Is it something i can adjust myself, or do i need to send it to PonyCarbs or something?

Thanks

-Bryan

 

[Anonymous]

Hi, my six is running with a 1v holley 1940 that has and automatic choke with a copper tube running down to the headers to guage the temp. Anyway, in the winter when its about 40-50 degs out I'll have to crank it over about 2-4 times before she'll start rolling, but then I'll give her a constant bit of throttle till she stops rumbling around and smoothes out. I usually wait till the needle on the temp guage registers just in the little bracket before drivng away and that takes a minute or two, but then she runs fine, no rough idles or anything.

 

[CobraSix]

my choke hasn't been working in about a year now. When it's cold out, like now...I usually have to give it ome gas for about 1 minute and then I just let it idle normal, so long as it stays running.

Slade

 

[Anonymous]

I am of the school that you go ahead and hit the road. Idling an engine is not all that good for it. It will warm up faster when it is placed under a load. That said, I don't dump the clutch and scream down the road. I let it warm up for a couple of miles. Sounds like your carb may have too much fast idle adjusted into for those temperatures. When starting old carbureted cars, the proceedure is to pump the gas all the way to the floor so that the choke and fast idle cam are set upon starting. It should not come all of the way off of fast idle until the choke plate has returned to nearly vertical. Many carbs have stepped cams that adjust the idle up depending on how far the choke plate is closed. As it warms up and you blip the throttle, it will return to a progressively slower speed until it is fully warmed.

 

[Anonymous]

I do the same, give one pump, and start it up. If it idles rough i give it a little throttle until it calms down, then after that its usually ready to go, if not i wait a minute and its usually good.

 

[MustangSix]

The owners manual states that you should pump the gas 1-2 times to set the choke, then with your foot off the gas, turn the key. Setting the choke puts the throttle up on the fast idle cam, so it should be running faster. Once the choke mechanism starts to warm, the next push of the pedal should release the fast idle cam and the engine will settle to a normal idle.

The difference between your car and your friend's car is the choke setting. His just pulls off faster than yours.

And I agree that you should drive away as soon as the car is warm enough to do so.

 

[CobraSix]

I've always let my cars (and family business vehicles) warm up for a few minutes before driving them, at least in the winter. I've had great success with this as most of our cars are well over 100k. All of our business vans got well over 300k miles before having issues. Now, I'm less inclined to let my mustang warm up as much as my Volvo, but that is because of the turbo. I don't like driving the car much before the oil has had a chance to warm up and is really flowing around the turbo. I've got 120k miles on my turbo so far. I let the mustang warm up only because the choke doesn't work and it doesn't drive well at all until it has been idling a few minutes.

But, to each his on.

Slade

 

[Anonymous]

i have an autolite1100 from ponycarb, and i have to warm mine up for as much as 5 minutes before even thinking about driving her, otherwise it sputters and i dont get the right mixture to the holes. when i had the holley1904 on there i would hardly warm her up before going and things were fine. i dont know what it is, maybe because Los Angeles is having an unusually cold winter but i have to warm up for a while before taking off. if the problem persists into the summer i'm yanking the autolite and rebuilding the holley. as if taking traffic time into account isnt bad enough now i have warm up time to consider before arriving somewhere on time. still i love her!

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, I never knew about pumping the gas to the floor before starting the car. I always kinda press on the gas while turning the key. When I got my car, it didn't come with the owner's manual and I never bought one! Heh, well I guess I will invest in one. So do you guys press the gas all the way to floor and then turn the key when always starting your cars?

Thanks again for all your responses.

 

[CobraSix]

You'll find each car is different. That's the beauty of carbs. General rule of thumb, 2 pumps works for most cars. A pump is pressing to the floor and releasing. Don't hold it. Our old van used to have to have exactly 2.5 pumps. 3 pumps, it wouldn't start easily, 2 pumps, wouldn't start very easily. The only time you hold the pedal to the floor is if you think you flooded the engine. It's counter-intuitive, but it works.

On my current set up, I have to pump twice, and while starting, just barely push the gas pedal (very slightly, just enough to get it to run at 800 RPM when it starts. You'll have to find out what your car needs. And that changes with each carb you put on.

Good luck.

Slade

 

[Lazy JW]

I do very little warming up before driving away, and I've had very good success with my vehicles. But I live about 2 1/2 miles from the main highway, so I just start the engine, get my seatbelt fastened, lights on, whatever, and just drive away slowly. Our driveway is about 1/2 mile long at about ten mph tops, then 2 miles of county road at about 35 mph. Then it's 55 on the highway, no big hills to pull right away so it's pretty well warmed up before I push very hard. Remember, at idle you are getting exactly Zero mpg.
Joe

 

[ludwig]

Scott68, I have a Pony 1100 and it works fine at 1200 ft elevation above Glendale CA. What you describe is exactly what I had before I got the choke working properly.
I HAD trouble with the chock pulloff on both of my Pony carbs. The set/pulloff spring inside the cap came off on both carbs. I put instructions on how to repair it on another string about "butterfly closing" or something like that.
Now it runs fine at high idle (1100+) and pulls off after about 5 minutes warming up or driving.

 

[Anonymous]

Mine is a warm up beast, usually I have to let it sit for several minutes before I can drive off... I am running a manual choke, the car starts with one pump to the floor, runs even at about 1600 rpms for about five minutes, that puts the temps up to where the thermostat opens for the first time, after that it will idle rough and I can take off, once I hit the main street it idles fine and is nice and warm.


Now when the temps are really down, I have to wait longer... I always thought is was bad to run a cool engine and I wait for it to warm up... maybe I will try driving it a little more often now.


My choke is not exactly on the money either which makes it harder for me to run cold.

 

[Anonymous]

I let mine warm up fully in the winter.

in the summer, just long enough so that I feel the oil has circulated around enough. Whatever that means.